A bit of turkey soup, and time seem to have the cold on its way out.
September 30, 2008
Sniffle Hack Wheeze
I disappeared for the weekend with Carolyn to her cottage. Before leaving, I picked up a nasty cold/flu that's been making its rounds. I managed to load enough orange juice and vitamin C pills into my body to hold the worst of it off until Monday morning around 2 am, at which point I woke up and couldn't sleep again for two hours. Lack of sleep combined with elevation changes driving back home yesterday made my head feel like a dense ball of yellow-green phlegmy goo (not far from the truth).
A bit of turkey soup, and time seem to have the cold on its way out.
A bit of turkey soup, and time seem to have the cold on its way out.
September 16, 2008
Objects in Motion
4 degrees at night and a yellowish tinge to many of the leaves on the trees; fastest summer ever. One of the rainiest too.
Every year around this time, one of my friends from highschool throws herself a birthday house party, which becomes my annual highschool reunion to catch up with people I don't see in the intervening time. Back in highschool it was the typical gossip, backstabbing and drama. Through university less of the drama, and more bitching about profs, courses and tuition. Now, 7 years removed from graduation, and 2 or more from university or college, and most of the catching up involved hearing about people rotating through jobs in an attempt to advance careers. Meanwhile I remain static; an object at rest, waiting for enough of a force to get me in motion. One would think plummeting towards debt would instill some kind of energy to do so. Instead, I'm blogging, and waiting for paint to dry on another household 'make-work' project.
On the bright side, at least I haven't lost thousands or millions in the markets the past few days. At least I'm not one of those declaring bankruptcy trying to pay for my $300 000 home, and $50 000 SUV status symbols on a $30k salary. Not working at all has put me in the exact same position as those people at least, nowhere. But with infinitely less energy wasted. At least I have efficiency going for me.
Every year around this time, one of my friends from highschool throws herself a birthday house party, which becomes my annual highschool reunion to catch up with people I don't see in the intervening time. Back in highschool it was the typical gossip, backstabbing and drama. Through university less of the drama, and more bitching about profs, courses and tuition. Now, 7 years removed from graduation, and 2 or more from university or college, and most of the catching up involved hearing about people rotating through jobs in an attempt to advance careers. Meanwhile I remain static; an object at rest, waiting for enough of a force to get me in motion. One would think plummeting towards debt would instill some kind of energy to do so. Instead, I'm blogging, and waiting for paint to dry on another household 'make-work' project.
On the bright side, at least I haven't lost thousands or millions in the markets the past few days. At least I'm not one of those declaring bankruptcy trying to pay for my $300 000 home, and $50 000 SUV status symbols on a $30k salary. Not working at all has put me in the exact same position as those people at least, nowhere. But with infinitely less energy wasted. At least I have efficiency going for me.
September 08, 2008
Lets Play Ball...Just Not on TV
The Toronto Blue Jays have won 8 games in a row, the first time they've done so since the 1999 season. Three of those wins came against one of the two teams ahead of them in the wildcard race in the Minnesota Twins. Three more of them came against the division leading Tampa Bay Rays. And the remaining two wins came against the New York Yankees, who the Jays have now surpassed in the overall standings.
Winning late in the season isn't unusual around the Jays franchise, and neither is being all but mathematically out of the playoff race at this point in the season for every one since 1993. With 20 games remaining, and despite the hot streak, the Jays remain 8 games out of the playoff race. Now, whether you want to call out the MLB for having the smallest playoffs of any major pro sport, with 8 of 30 teams getting extra play; or are willing to accept life in the perennial best division in baseball, Jays management has stepped afoul of fans somehow in not having the final game of the season scheduled for TV broadcast according to the Yahoo! schedule.
Going into the season, the Jays were being sold as a true competitor for a playoff spot. And while that clearly didn't pan out with a lacklustre offensive output until things seemingly turned around with the firing of John Gibbons and hiring of throwback Cito Gaston, the Jays still find themselves playing quasi-meaningful games at the end of the season. At present, the Boston Red Sox sit 8 games ahead of the Jays, with 7 of their remaining 20 games scheduled opposing one another.
Despite all this, the final game of the season has apparently not been picked up by any of the big three Canadian sports networks for TV. This, combined with the ridiculous blackout restrictions on MLB.TV in Canada such that no Blue Jays games are available on the online package, means that a game that may infact have playoff implications will go unseen in Canada. At the end of September, not even the beloved Maple Leafs are back in season, so the reasoning behind this scheduling blunder seems unclear. Jays fans can only hope that the issue is resolved come the end of season, hopefully whether still in contention or not.
Winning late in the season isn't unusual around the Jays franchise, and neither is being all but mathematically out of the playoff race at this point in the season for every one since 1993. With 20 games remaining, and despite the hot streak, the Jays remain 8 games out of the playoff race. Now, whether you want to call out the MLB for having the smallest playoffs of any major pro sport, with 8 of 30 teams getting extra play; or are willing to accept life in the perennial best division in baseball, Jays management has stepped afoul of fans somehow in not having the final game of the season scheduled for TV broadcast according to the Yahoo! schedule.
Going into the season, the Jays were being sold as a true competitor for a playoff spot. And while that clearly didn't pan out with a lacklustre offensive output until things seemingly turned around with the firing of John Gibbons and hiring of throwback Cito Gaston, the Jays still find themselves playing quasi-meaningful games at the end of the season. At present, the Boston Red Sox sit 8 games ahead of the Jays, with 7 of their remaining 20 games scheduled opposing one another.
Despite all this, the final game of the season has apparently not been picked up by any of the big three Canadian sports networks for TV. This, combined with the ridiculous blackout restrictions on MLB.TV in Canada such that no Blue Jays games are available on the online package, means that a game that may infact have playoff implications will go unseen in Canada. At the end of September, not even the beloved Maple Leafs are back in season, so the reasoning behind this scheduling blunder seems unclear. Jays fans can only hope that the issue is resolved come the end of season, hopefully whether still in contention or not.
September 04, 2008
Betrothed
On a distinctly more positive note than the last post; I forgot to mention in the post after returning home from the cottage that one of my best buddies since elementary school, and his girlfriend (and my own girlfriend's cousin) are now engaged, with a wedding in the works for next summer. You know it will be the hottest day of the summer when I'm standing there, with my full tux on, roasting. In all seriousness though, congratulations to Dave and Jo!
Military Breeding Machine
I have caught a few minutes here and there of speeches and the like coming out of the Republican National Convention in the past few days. I tend to only be able to maintain my attention for those few minutes at a time before I become dumbfounded at how people so adamantly support such hypocrisy. I thought surely last time around there was no way they could possibly re-elect Bush, but then they did. And now despite all the negative response around the selection of Governor Palin for VP, I worry that the same thing could happen.
When it comes down to selling your campaign on grabbin' yer guns and upholding some notion of Christian law, apparently votes quickly swing your way. The Republicans have only managed to shift gears slightly since last time around, slightly fewer references to the dreaded 9/11 (except those by GW himself), and endless more references to McCain's POW experience. Sure the guy is a hero in that regard, but so are countless other vets slipping further into senility, and under-assisted by aid and health care programs. I don't see how this becomes such a strong selling point in marketing the President of the USA.
As usual these days, its basically been put on satire shows like The Daily Show and Colbert Report to reveal the hypocrisy of the actual halfway relevant talking points, and they've done a hilarious job. The speeches themselves would be funny, if it wasn't so scary, what people are willing to believe.
The two most prominent platforms in the speeches so far seem to be the 'protection of human life', and the 'resolve to get the job done in the war against terrorism'. In that juxtaposition, I've finally realized some of the 'logic' in Republican thinking. The life of children must be protected, until such age that they are fit to suit up in camo and carry an M16, no matter the costs to the mother bearing them, or the perhaps young father, who has nowhere to turn but to the military to earn money to support the child. Two birds with one stone right?
Sure we have our own imminent election coming up in Canada, and it has its implications for conflicts overseas as well, but it all seems to pale in comparison to the problems faced south of the border, and in reality, the world over, should the Republicans steal another 4 years.
When it comes down to selling your campaign on grabbin' yer guns and upholding some notion of Christian law, apparently votes quickly swing your way. The Republicans have only managed to shift gears slightly since last time around, slightly fewer references to the dreaded 9/11 (except those by GW himself), and endless more references to McCain's POW experience. Sure the guy is a hero in that regard, but so are countless other vets slipping further into senility, and under-assisted by aid and health care programs. I don't see how this becomes such a strong selling point in marketing the President of the USA.
As usual these days, its basically been put on satire shows like The Daily Show and Colbert Report to reveal the hypocrisy of the actual halfway relevant talking points, and they've done a hilarious job. The speeches themselves would be funny, if it wasn't so scary, what people are willing to believe.
The two most prominent platforms in the speeches so far seem to be the 'protection of human life', and the 'resolve to get the job done in the war against terrorism'. In that juxtaposition, I've finally realized some of the 'logic' in Republican thinking. The life of children must be protected, until such age that they are fit to suit up in camo and carry an M16, no matter the costs to the mother bearing them, or the perhaps young father, who has nowhere to turn but to the military to earn money to support the child. Two birds with one stone right?
Sure we have our own imminent election coming up in Canada, and it has its implications for conflicts overseas as well, but it all seems to pale in comparison to the problems faced south of the border, and in reality, the world over, should the Republicans steal another 4 years.
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